To start a Prepping for Poor People thread?

[TooBigForMyBoots]

I'm poor (household income well below £20k). With the energy price rises, CoL crisis and possible power cuts ahead I'm wondering what tips other people in my position have to give to prepare us for the winter ahead.

As this is a thread for poor people, recommended purchases should be £7.50 or less. This is not the thread for recommending Agas, sheepskin boots, 70quid blankets or moving house.

Feel free to move this to Prepping or CoL @MNHQ if you think it's better there.

Depending on where you are, it might be possible to hunt animals or birds for meat. Check for techniques online, but with practice it's possible to set traps which will catch animals - it's not necessary to purchase expensive firearms or crossbows. Harvesting the meat is messy but surprisingly easy if you can get over the "ick" factor. Just be sure to hang the carcass and drain the blood out first. Check the laws where you are though because a lot of places e.g. the UK have laws banning you from doing this. If you live somewhere more liberal it's a good tip though.

Wearing a hat inside. I made a headband out of old tights which warms ears and looks trendy (or would on the right person).

If an appliance breaks you can often find out how to fix it on YouTube, saving a call out and repair costs.

If you have a garden you can take cuttings now to root for Christmas presents. Roses will take longer but you could save them for a spring birthday. In the summer, cut flowers from your garden to give as gifts (you can buy charity shop vases or save jam jars to arrange in). Save seeds from your garden and gift in decorated envelopes. Most gardeners would be delighted by a gift like that. You can also plant cheap bulbs now - saved yogurt pots with holes in make good containers.

Make your own compost (some councils give away free or discounted compost bins, or you could just cover your heap with something). Collect leaves for leaf mould too. You may find you can stop paying for green waste this way.

Soap filled pads (brillo knockoffs) are cheaper and better than most flash type cleaning products.

Better yet, do this as a cheap craft activity with kids. If you have any old buttons for eyes or scraps of material, preferably colourful, for tongue and stripes, make a draught excluder snake. OK, maybe still not pretty, but the kids have been briefly entertained for free and it's actually a useful craft to clutter display around the house.

Does anyone know if oil filled radiators are expensive to run?

This is a great tip! It really works too.

And if you have more than one extra duvet/sleeping bag put one on top of your normal one for an extra cost bed.

The extra duvet coming out is such a treat, it feels so snug!

Good luck @verdantverdure !!! Let us know how you get on.

In our house, when I do this with the kids, even these bits would count as "cheating" (although I do secretly cheat on adult expenditure which would otherwise get me sacked!)

So, if we were out of bread we would use flour to make our own or look for alternatives for bread-meals like oats for breakfast or pasta salad for lunch.

For fruit you could rummage in the freezer for if you have any frozen berries / look for people giving away cooking apples / look for apple or pear trees on public footpaths etc.

For salad if you google whatever you have in fridge or freezer followed by salad there are loads of salad recipes that don't need lettuce, cucumber or tomatoes. Or you could try sprouting microgreens like a pp suggested if you have any seeds.

It's not obligatory to do it this thoroughly - still works if you spend a fiver obviously - but I think the kids find it more fun because of these sort of things if that makes sense?

A hot water bottle up the jumper is a wonderful thing 🔥

if it’s cold, you can’t afford the heating on and the kids are bored - get them to make a den out of sheets, blankets etc. We did it on the upstairs landing over the Christmas holidays and it’s amazing how much warmer it was in their den. Plus they were amused for hours building it then colouring, reading etc inside it.

There are a few different versions of this, but here's one:

www.trueactivist.com/how-to-easily-heat-your-home-using-flower-pots-tea-lights-t1/

I blocked off my chimney today. 3 old cushions, one binbag, a bit of sooty dust and it was done. I am well proud of myself.

Ta for the tip @User12398712. Even ugly things have a cuteness when you add a tongue and googly eyes.😂😂😂

Some might have already been said

When showering turn the water off when lathering your hair/body in shampoo/soap. Turn water back on only to rinse off.

If you have showers at work or the gym - shower there instead.

If you work on site or in an office take your phones, iPads etc to work and charge them at your desk rather than at home.

Yellow sticker aisle in supermarkets.

When driving - go straight into 5th gear and coast as much as you can. Fuck the Highway Code.

If you shop at Iceland, get a bonus card. If you can put 20 pounds on it to spend, you'll get one pound back. And some of their food is excellent value.

Also worth knowing about their interest free loans for short term cash flow problems.

Layer up
Open windows and doors every morning to let damp air out and fresh air in. This will reduce moisture and dampness in the house, intern keeping it warmer. This is especially important if your drying washing inside.
Celotape around windows to reduce drafts.
Use reusable containers instead of constantly buying cling film, foil or sandwich bags. Or try and reuse them as much as possible if you do.
Take cash shopping where you can so you don’t go over budget.
Bulk meals out with bags of mixed veg.
A firm favourite growing up was always serve bread and butter with meals to fill you up.
Buy polyfiller or expanding foam to fill as many draft gaps as possible.
Try and reduce living rooms in the house (I,e if you have more than one living area try and not use every room) and only heat the rooms being used.
Extra blankets on mattresses make beds warmer.
Wear extra layers to bed or put extra layers on as soon as you wake up. I put a hoodie and thermal socks on in the mornings, my DF always put his beanie on as he went round opening doors and windows in winter.
Keep some UHT milk on hand so your not paying convenience store prices in case you run out.
If your on a water meter stick a brick in the cistern to reduce water usage. disclaimer: not everyone recommends this as apparently can cause damage, but my parents always did this.
Constantly monitor your energy usage, switching off appliances and see where the bulk of your usage is going.
might be controversial, but charge phones at work or cafes if plugs available.
Buy cheap curtains from charity shops and hand over drafty doors. Make sure they are really long so can double and draft excluder and the bottom.
Rolled up towels make just as good draft excluders, you don’t need to buy specific ones.
Check out charity shops for oodies, onesies, warm clothing.
Churches in my are are offering heated hubs to people. A place people can go to be warm and have a hot drink.
Lots of churches also host Christmas events, carol services for free.
Join as many free gifting pages on Facebook as possible, they not only offer free things but usually have lots of information and help on them.
Same with local community pages.
Dont be afraid to as for help if your struggling.

Does anyone know any cheap hacks for single-glazed windows?

A layer of bubble wrap over the glass

Thanks

Mine is - you can use ordinary bar soap to wash your hair. Very cheap.

I see ghillie kettles are mentioned. I have looked for a bit trying to find a cheap second hand one but have never managed to find one.

I'm crocheting blankets, I'm on my third one this year, keeps my hands busy & helps my anxiety & autism.

Only if you live in a soft water area. But you can buy 'solid shampoo'.

I actually get my shampoo on prescription. It costs about the same to pay for the prescription as it does to buy it over the counter, but I get free prescriptions and my Dr is happy to prescribe it because of that.

One from the 1920s depression, libraries are warm and free, you don't need to be a member to sit and read the newspaper.

My local council allows anyone to order meals on wheels. It's about £5 so not a cheap option, but cheaper than a take away and more balanced nutritionally and arrives hot, with a pudding.

They do a different menu for Christmas which is when it might be worth getting for a family, although it's not so festive as a turkey on the table.

Might have already been mentioned..... apologies if so.....

I use hair wraps to dry my hair. Or at least mostly dry my hair then a quick blast with the hair dryer. The wraps themselves air dry much quicker than towels.

I have also been know to put my airer in the greenhouse to dry on rainy days. But it will need a very good tidy and scrub before I do it again.

There are a couple of business near me the have signs outside advertising free wood. Ones a kitchen factory. The other seems to be some sort of builders. They built a large crate outside thats always getting topped up. Its worth checking out places like that if you have a fire.

I forgot to add, take a pocket calculator or use your phone when out shopping to calculate the price of “specials”. Just because something looks cheaper dosnt mean to say it is, supermarkets can be very deceiving this way, You can use the calculator to work out the unit price to see what is the most valuable deal. If you read the price tag it will break down the cost per litre/grams etc…

If your able to, keep a list of what items are cheaper at different supermarkets. You can check on line each week to see what deals are on certain items.

Take care of things to make them last. A friend of mine once laughed at me because I had the same pack of Bobby pins for 10 years. He laughed because they were so cheap, I don’t care how cheap they are, I didn’t then or now see any point in being careless or throwing things away just to buy more. I’d take the pin out of my hair and place it back on the cardboard to reuse. If they got too wide I’d bite them back down, only throwing away when I had to.

ive just bought a battery operated emergency radio with crank, solar panel, torch. It has a USB adapter to charge phones. I currently have it sat on my windowsill in the sun charging up while I have my phone plugged into it. No idea how well it will charge as I only bought it yesterday but I thought it’s worth a try.

Use a dustpan and brush to sweep your carpets and floors to reduce using your hoover.

I make a lot of dinners (live alone) that can be heated up but also stored in the fridge, so e.g. bolognese sauce etc. The potatoes one you can use for cold ones halved etc.

I've also got far more savvy about not wasting food. Got sausage in batter and chips as takeaway last night and didn't eat half the sausage so keeping in fridge so I can have as lunch/snack/part of dinner tonight. Times were, I'd just have binned it before.

I would say from my DM when she was younger and on a budget:

Gas fires and calor gas stoves
no meat meals - she used to buy a meat loaf in a tin which we seemed to have a lot of
old fashioned blankets
drying clothes in front of e.g. gas fires or outside on a line
Don't buy stuff you don't need
jumble sales/second hand shops for toys/clothes etc
babysitting - ask friend with children and reciprocate
we had a huge apple tree in garden so would puree any left over and put in kilner jars, also grew salad, tomatoes, peas in garden
baking own bread - cheaper

Can't think of any offhand but will find out. This was from 1970s onwards but she saved money because she had to.